


A Kunoichi's Courage

by Tumbalalaika



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F, Gen, Hinata joins sound, Hinata-centric, My first fic, Post-Chuunin Exams, hinata goes missing nin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-04 08:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3059621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tumbalalaika/pseuds/Tumbalalaika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata didn't want to over think it. This was something she had to do. No choice. She was going to go missing-nin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Decision to Be Made

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: So I've written and re-written just this first chapter about 20 times, no joke. I'm really nervous about this.. I would start out on fanfiction.net but that place kinda scares me a little. I'm really self conscious about my writing. At first it seemed too immature, then it was too fast, then it was too slow. So if you have any criticisms on my work please tell me so I can work on it :)
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto- and it would be dumb of me to claim I do since I'd have to have started writing it from my mother's womb..

 

 Hinata was crying again. Hinata crying was about as rare as Hinata blushing or Hinata stuttering which is to say, all the damn time. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, her nose was a bright red, her mouth was partly open, allowing her to breath despite her blocked (and leaking) nose. Despite the visual similarity to all the other hundreds of times she had cried, there was in fact one essential difference. This time Hinata was sobbing. Loudly. Or what counted as loudly for her, anyway. The door to her room was shut but not locked. (Shinobi have no need for _locks_ Hiashi had sneered). And Hinata was laying with her face buried in her (hard) pillow, desperately trying to hold her sobs in, to quench down on the hysteria rising through her, bubbling in her throat. She was failing miserably. Her cheek throbbed from where Hiashi had struck her but the too familiar pain was not the cause of her tears. Hadn’t been the cause of her tears for years now. No, the sobs wracking through her body were the result of the horrible words her father had spat out after the initial blow to her face.

“You have given me no choice” he had started, voice grim. “By losing to your cousin you have shamed the head family to the members of the branch. Your weakness has put doubt in the hearts of the clan” here he had clenched his fist and waited for Hinata to look up into his eyes before continuing sounding slightly pained. “You are no longer fit to be called clan heiress- Your sealing ceremony will be held next week, unfortunately due to your age it is most likely that your Byakugan will be repressed. If that is so, you will move out of the Hyuuga compound and begin life as a civilian. The council sees it is obvious that without our bloodline talent you will be useless as a shinobi” he had concluded.

Hinata choked on the memory. Her heart burning when she recalled the indifference in her father’s eyes when he spoke of her banishment. The slight frown when he admitted the Hyuuga elders thought very little of her abilities. The grimace on his face when Hinata’s tears started falling. Her powers were to be sealed away forever. The chances of her overcoming that seal like Neji-niisan were unlikely. Most children of the branch family were sealed shortly after birth, sealing after that age was dangerous and painful. Not only that, if she was unable to use Byakugan, then her child bearing abilities would be sealed away too and she was to be thrown out of her clan. She would be a nobody with no family or friends. Surely no one would ever want to marry the barren civilian she was about to become. After hearing the news, for a second Hinata had felt an overwhelming sense of relief at the fact that she would no longer be a Hyuuga. The brief feeling had disappeared, however, when she realised that she would never hold another clan name or even family name again. She would never reach her dream of becoming an Uzumaki. After all, to her, the no-doubt future Hokage would definitely be required to produce heirs and in a week her heir producing abilities would be ripped away. Hinata’s head hurt and her body still ached from Neji’s beatdown, the medics having only bothered to repair the internal bleeding with no regards for her bruises. She was also fatigued and heartsick. Slowly she started to drift out of consciousness.

_Uzumaki._ Hinata thought light-headedly. _What a beautiful name. Naruto is a beautiful name too. Whirlpool.. or fishcake. I like fish cakes. They taste nice. And whirlpools are beautiful. Whirlpool sounds exciting.. and dangerous. Naruto isn’t very dangerous. But he is beautiful and exciting. He never gives up... He’s so brave. I wonder if he.. I wonder if he will notice when I’m gone. I hope he does. I hope he visits me. Maybe if he visits me then this will all be worth it. Especially if he smiles.._

__

Hinata lost herself in thoughts of Naruto’s smile. The one that lit up his face and immediately made anyone near him just as happy. A small smile made its way on to her face just at the thought, her sobs long since abated and her face only streaked with memories of her tears. Just as quickly as the smile appeared though, it faded, chased away by a different voice making itself known in her head. A voice she never could ignore. A combination of the voice of her father, her cousin, her sister and even Naruto’s. **_Why would Naruto ever visit you?_** it asked. _**You’re pathetic. Beaten by your cousin of the branch family. The one with a seal on his forehead. Now you’re going to join him in his agony. Naruto wouldn’t care about someone who’s weak. Naruto only likes strong people. Like Sasuke and Sakura. Even Shino and Kiba won’t bother with you once your byakugan is taken away. Kurenai has always been disappointed with you most anyway. You just hold everyone back. Even your family,  your father, your sister have turned their backs on you. Your mother died just to get away from you.**_ Hinata’s tears started up again. ‘Stop it!’ she screamed in her head, louder than her voice would ever be in real life. ‘Please, please, please, just go away. I know already. I know!’ She sat up and covered her ears with her hands, shaking her head vigorously. ** _Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic, pathetic_**.. the voice jeered in her head. Hinata wailed and crashed her head against the wall in an uncharacteristic loss of composure and show of disregard for the other occupants of the house. Barely a second later and her door was open with both her father and sister standing there, byakugan activated and in perfect pose for the gentle fist technique. Hinata’s head was throbbing even worse than it had been before and there was blood trickling from her temple.

 _fuck_ she thought then blushed in horror at the cuss that her mind had produced.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hiashi asked, eyes still darting around the room trying to determine the cause for the blood staining his daughters hair and running down the bridge of her nose. Hinata just flushed harder and started choking on her words, her stammer increased tenfold. “I-I-III-I I wa-wa-wa-w-as j-j-ju-just”

“Silence” Hiashi cut her off in disgust, finally spotting the blood stain on her wall. He relaxed from his stance and deactivated his byakugan before meeting her frightened eyes with his own cool ones. There was a split second of silence where Hiashi saw terror flashing through his daughter’s pale eyes. He was careful to keep his anger and worry hidden from his own as he looked at her trembling in the long sleeved shirt and pants she wore to bed. Then, “So you thought damaging your forehead will prevent me from sealing you” he assumed out loud.

Hinata’s eyes widened in shock. That thought had not even entered her mind! “N-n-no!” she exclaimed desperate for her father to believe her.

Hiashi sneered cruelly, noting the desperation in his weakling (darling) child’s voice. “I guess I’ll have to find a more obvious place to mark you then. Somewhere you can’t hide behind your bangs” his voice shifted from cold to contemplative. “I think across your cheek and the bridge of your nose will do. Or maybe we can find a way to get rid of your hair permanently. Then we can get it across your skull.” Hiashi watched with little satisfaction at the way his disappointment of a daughter (she looks just like her mother- NO-)  contorted her face with shock at his cruel words before shifting her gaze to the floor by his feet. In that moment Hiashi truly hated himself, more than he ever had before.

Hinata shrunk in on herself, shaking her head. How could father be so cruel? “Nnnn-nn-no!” she cried, her tears blurring the swaying  image of her father’s feet. Her distressed mind suddenly provided her with a clear memory of Naruto, staring defiantly up at one of the academy teachers who had slapped him in front of the whole class one day after falling for one of his pranks. She remembered the way Naruto’s blue eyes had met the teachers grey ones with a quiet dignity. How he had stood up to his teachers killing intent without batting an eye. Naruto was brave. Naruto was strong. That meant Hinata had to be strong too.  Determination coursed through her. Another tear dripped off the end of her nose. Or maybe it was blood. She shifted her stance into one of resolve.  “No” she said more firmly in a soft voice, looking up and fixing her eyes squarely onto Hiashi’s cruel stare. Hiashi showed no reaction to Hinata’s uncharacteristic firmness. They stared into each others eyes for several seconds. Their brows furrowed over their identical pale orbs. Hiashi’s with contemplativeness and Hinata with determination.

“Very well” Hiashi said, finally dropping his daughter’s gaze. He briefly pondered on the idea of leaving with another threat but dismissed the idea of pushing the child further, even if it was for her own good. Hinata was weak, not stupid. He had made his point. She would understand that another attempt at rebellion would cost her more than what it was worth.  He turned and glided out of her room. Hanabi stood staring puzzledly at her sister for a few more seconds who in turn went back to staring at the floor, her head hung at an angle that hid most of her features behind her bangs. Hanabi rolled her eyes (quite an accomplishment for a Hyuuga). Swallowing down her disappointment towards her sister, she huffed and twirled around, storming out of the room and inconsiderately leaving the door open behind her.

Hinata sighed in relief before walking to the door and closing it silently. Her tears started falling again but she fought hard against the sobs threatening to crawl out of her throat. She leaned her back against her door gasping silently, desperately trying to calm herself. The voice from before was starting to whisper again. Always the same word. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Hinata sunk into a crouch, her head buried in her knees, her tears soaking her pants and her blood staining them. _I can’t do this anymore_ she thought desperately to herself.

 ** _Well in a week you won’t have to_ ** sneered the ugly voice in her head.

 _I don’t want to be sealed!! I don’t want to lose my kunoichi status! I-I want to be strong!_ Her own revelation actually surprised her. Even if it was all in her head..

**_You have a different choice you know.._ **

_A ch-choice?_

_**Run away** _ the voice offered simply. .

Run away? She couldn’t just run away! She was weak and pathetic. She wouldn’t last an hour out there. Not to mention her bloodline.. Oh! A sudden thought occurred to her. If she ran away she wouldn’t be listed as missing nin for fear of other villages finding out and going after her bloodline talent!

But no. That didn’t matter. That didn’t change the fact that she was weak. It didn’t change the fact that her chakra reserves were below average and her pain tolerance was too low, especially for a female shinobi, preventing her from pushing herself into gaining speed and stamina. Her chakra control was nowhere near as efficient as Sakura-san. Her intelligence was the shinobi average. Her only speciality lay in her bloodline talent, even then she was out matched by her younger sister. She wasn’t a genjutsu type like Kurenai-sensei had hoped. She didn’t even know her chakra nature affinity although the Hyuugas almost exclusively were all water types to oppose the Uchiha’s fire.

Exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally Hinata dragged herself into her bed. Closing her eyes she thought everything over, turning facts and thoughts over and over in her head until her head started to spin. She finally she came to a conclusion. She could either go along with being sealed and thrown out. She would have to settle down as a civilian and just watch from the sidelines while her comrades climbed through the ranks and turned into amazing shinobi. Watch while they all fought and died or married and produced heirs, passing on their clans legacy while she found some meaningless job and lived alone and unnoticed for the rest of her life. Or she could run. She could pack a bag and leave the village. She would be alone, but maybe she was better off alone. After all she could barely speak without stuttering. She was 12 years old and still unable to utter a full sentence. So yes, maybe she was better off staying away from people. And maybe, with her life on her line, she would find it easier to become strong. Easier to push through the pain and sweat and blood that was needed to improve. Hinata imagined herself living alone deep in the forest, training hard, improving her skills, then years later returning to Konoha, tall, proud and strong. A kunoichi worthy of the position as clan Heiress.

It was with daydreams of this future self that Hinata drifted off into a deep sleep, her cheeks stained with tears and dried blood with and lips curled into a small smile.

***

The next morning Hinata woke up when the sun had already reached its midpoint in the sky. For a moment she panicked. She was late for training! But the events of the Chuunin exams yesterday trickled back into her mind and her panic was replaced by dread. She had 6 days to make her choice. Stay or leave? Leave or stay? Both would result in her banishment from the clan. Both would result in rejection from her few friends. But only one held the risk of death. Hinata thought about that. Death. Would it be so bad? She knew plenty of people who had died. She wondered if it was more painful than living. She wondered why people even bothered to live if it wasn’t. Love. Her mind whispered a conclusion. “Oh” she said softly. That made sense. People lived to be with the people they loved. But Hinata only had one love in this world. One bright light in the darkness of her life. And that light barely acknowledged her existence. He wouldn’t miss her while she was gone. She didn’t love Konoha. She had barely ever seen the outside of the Hyuuga compound before her enrollment at the academy. The people of Konoha had never done anything for her. She hadn’t ever been given the chance or reason to develop the will of fire. So what was holding her back? Her fear. Her fear was what always held her back. Her fear of rejection keeping her from opening up to friends. Her fear of pain keeping her from improving as a kunoichi. Her fear of failing keeping her from even trying. Naruto wasn’t like that. Naruto threw himself into everything headfirst with a steady passion and fierce determination.  Naruto had beaten Kiba, as improbable as it seemed. Naruto never gave up, never held back. How could she admire him so much but never make an attempt to be like him?

Hinata drew in a deep breath. She made her decision. She exhaled slowly. The opened her eyes. She would leave. She would leave and become strong enough that no one dared to try and hurt her again. She would gain the respect of her father and sister even if she never got to see it personally. She would become strong and brave like Naruto. She would become someone he would acknowledge. With her decision made, Hinata felt a deep sense of relief. Now that she was sure of her choice all that was left was to devise a plan and carry it out. She was almost shocked at how calm she felt as she sat up and started thinking up her escape plan. Her biggest advantage was that no one expected her to try and escape. She allowed herself a small smile. This was going to be easy.

*******

Hiashi frowned and resisted the urge to slump in his chair. He watched as Hinata left the house, speeding out of the compound and leaving his line of vision, enhanced by his dojutsu of course. What was the girl doing? She was supposed to be training hard in order to prove herself worthy! Not sneaking out of the compound before sunrise after a week of impromptu socializing and several shopping trips. It was almost as if- no, that was ridiculous. No amount of desperation would drive his mouse of a daughter to that. Still, what could she possibly be doing on the morning of her sealing? He cursed, damn the clan elders to hell. What at first had been a suggestion to frighten the girl into working harder had now become a reality he would have to face. _Forgive me- my wife_. He knew there was absolutely nothing he could do now. He grimaced and let his mind drift from his daughter’s strange behavior. She had probably gone to prepare herself. Nothing to worry about. He ignored the insistent tugging he felt at the back of his mind. Nothing to worry about at all.

 

 


	2. The Search Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've taken the liberty of giving Hinata a legit excuse for why she is less than stellar at this whole ninja business. I didn't really put as much effort into this chapter as I did the last.. That probably means it's better.

Hinata checked her reflection in the full length mirror by her bed. The earthy glow from her lamp lit her face in a dramatic way but she was pleased to see that despite the dramatic lighting, she still looked the same as ever. Her resolution had not changed her appearance at all. More importantly, her big jacket that she always wore easily hid the lump of the medium sized sealing scroll stuffed down her shirt. The scroll only contained the bare minimum. Two identical changes of clothes, a sleeping roll and a pack of shuriken and senbon for her to practice with once she escaped. So far she could barely use the kunai tucked into the pouch strapped to her thigh, but she would make sure to change that. Her pockets were full of the money she had been saving from her D-rank missions. Her weapons pouch was filled with soldier pills and kunai. She took a deep breath.

_What am I doing?_ she asked herself. _I can’t do this!_ she looked at her pathetic blurry form in the mirror. She was tiny and soft and- _**Oh, so you’re not going to see this through? Just what I would expect from someone as pathetic as you**_. She flinched when the voice made it’s presence known in her head. _No!_ She denied to it. She would **not** allow herself to be sealed! She wouldn't! _But I’m a_ _cripple_.. For a long time Hinata had denied this to herself. She had never told anyone, her father probably would have disowned her a long time ago if he knew. So she he had learned to live with it. Hinata’s eyes had trouble focusing, especially while moving. Stationary objects were crystal clear but as soon as things started moving everything became a blur. She knew that it badly affected her Taijutsu. Years of practice helped her learn to navigate the world by instinct alone, but her bad eyesight still gave her a huge disadvantage. _That’s why you have to leave, you have to fix it_. Hinata shot one more glance at herself in the mirror. She took a second to focus on her eyes well enough to distinguish their shape and the resolve set into them. She could do this! She would do this. She clenched her tiny fist and narrowed her eyes in determination. She turned off her light and was immediately cloaked in darkness. It didn’t matter, the darkness was hardly worse than the blurs she saw. She climbed out of her window and started to walk.

She activated her Byakugan, alert for any sign of the familiar chakra of the chuunin guards who patrolled the outer wall of Konoha at night. She arrived at a part of the wall that was slightly lower than the rest of it. She scanned the area surrounding the wall for 30 metres either way, then after she was satisfied no patrols were nearby she channeled a small amount of chakra to her feet. While she may not have been particularly efficient with her chakra usage, she still had an abnormally high amount of control, at least for a common genin anyway. All Hyuugas had admirable chakra control, it was required for their gentle fist technique.. She walked up the wall swift and silently. Then she hopped of the 10 metre high wall and landed gracefully with chakra enforced ankles and knees. She was almost disappointed at how easy it was to leave. She scanned the area directly ahead of her again before running forward and disappearing into the greenery of The Fire Country’s largest forest.

***************

Kabuto grinned widely. He was tending to one of the Sandaime’s frequent migraines. Inwardly patting his back for developing an unrivaled technique in ridding headaches. It was useful for gathering information from stress pressed higher ups. He knew he wasn’t the only one who sensed the head Hyuuga’s angry chakra storming through the Hokage tower up to the Sandaime’s office. The old man sighed. _Pitiful_. “Kabuto-kun” he said softly. Kabuto immediately lowered his glowing green hands from the man’s head.

“Yes Hokage-sama?” he asked, quite the image of innocence.

“Perhaps you should leave now, I have- things to attend to” the Sandaime sounded tired and slightly resigned.

“Are you sure? I can still sense the tension in your mind” Kabuto kept up his facade of concern.

“No, what you have done so far is more than enough. Thank you Kabuto-kun. You may leave now.” the Sandaime said more firmly.

“As you wish, Hokage-sama” Kabuto pushed his glasses up before walking out of the office, almost colliding with one _very_ angry Hyuuga Hiashi.

“Ah, Hyuuga-sama, my apologies” he dipped his head quickly when the man glared.

Hiashi glared at him a second longer before entering the Hokage’s office, his anger actually palpable in the atmosphere around him. Kabuto walked down the hall while enhancing his hearing with chakra. A nifty trick, he had a string of chakra trailing from the Hokage’s office, the string was pulled taught and lead straight to his finger which he kept near his ear. The vibrations from the conversation happening in the Hokage’s office flowed down the chakra string easily. Kabuto entered the men’s room at the end of the hallway and locked himself in one of the stalls, resigned to listening to the conversation in the discomfort of the tiny stall. He smirked when he heard the angry undertone that the Hyuuga was using. The information he was giving was _very_ interesting. Very interesting indeed.

****

“Hokage-sama”

Sarutobi uttered a quick prayer to all the kami he could think of for the patience he would need to deal with the enraged Hyuuga standing before him.

“Ah, Hiashi-san” he said mildly. “What brings you to my office on this beautiful morning?”

***

Hiashi was absolutely _livid_. His eldest daughter, the still rightful heir to the Hyuuga, had run away. While this may have been slightly less of a headache if she had been sealed before her escape, it would still be a highly distressing affair. As it was, she was still unbranded, Hiashi was in a very delicate position. He would not be able to name Hanabi his heir unless Hinata was labeled missing-nin. If Hinata was named as missing-nin, the other shinobi villages would hear of it eventually and try to take advantage. Hinata lost fights to her younger sister. It was ridiculous to assume that she could win against bounty hunters. If he started up a hunt for her, the public would soon hear that the Hyuuga heir had run away. The Hyuuga elders would be livid. The knowledge would be a huge blow to the Hyuuga’s pride. But if they didn’t find her soon, she would no doubt be discovered by a different party.

Deep down Hiashi was hurt. His daughter had ran away. Ran away because of him. He did not, however allow his emotions to show while he confided with the Sandaime. The old man was looking at him thoughtfully while he explained the situation. Hiashi just hoped he would come up with a feasible solution.

****  


***

A half hour later after hearing the stoic man before him tell his story, Sarutobi felt the headache Kabuto-kun had healed for him come back in full swing. He buried his face in his hands. He was too old for this. The user of one of the most prestigious bloodlines in all of Konoha had just run away. Run away before she was even sealed. The situation was made worse by the fact that the runaway was a genin Kunoichi, barely 12 years old. As if that wasn't distressing enough, he now had to deal with the Hyuuga elders. If things kept progressing like this he would be forced to stuff the Hokage’s hat onto Hatake’s head whether he wanted it or not.

“Cat-kun” he called. An ANBU appeared before him immediately.

“Hokage-sama?”

“Set up a three ANBU squad search party immediately. Your target is Hyuuga Hinata. Her file is here, she went missing over 5 hours ago. We have reason to believe she has left Konoha. The mission is top secret security. Any gossip I hear of this will result in disciplinary action. Dismissed.”

***

_I think I finally understand what Neji-niisan means when he talks about freedom and birds. This is- This is wonderful!_

Hinata had never felt so alive. She had been flying through the tree tops for hours on end. She didn’t stop. She didn’t slow. She was as free as a bird and she would not allow herself to be caged again. Her heart rate was dangerously high, her sweat was making her eyes sting, her chakra reserves were down to half and her legs ached, but she barely registered these facts. It had been nearly 6 hours since she left. Her sealing ceremony would have finished by now. That meant her absence had been noted.

She had maybe 2 hours before any pursuers her father sent would catch up with her. Which meant it was time to hide. She arrived at the river. She knew that she had to hide not only her scent, but her chakra, her body and her tracks.. She stripped quickly, relieved to be out of her sweat soaked clothes. She just hoped no one was around to see her. She flushed hard at the thought and almost fainted. She hurriedly threw the clothes into the river, underwear and all, then proceeded to wash herself, fast and thorough in the freezing water. (She tried not to think about the reactions of her pursuers when they found the water logged panties) Then it was time to pull on her new clothes before coating herself in a thick layer of mud. From there it was simple to climb up to the top of a tree and lay on the top most branch, concentrating hard on masking her chakra signature (the first thing she had learned under Kurenai-sensei's tutelage). Even if her search party included someone with the Byakugan, it was unlikely they would think to search up here. She had been careful to select a tree covered in the shade of other trees so she was invisible from above. She had to be careful not to sweat but the cool mud helped with that. She had also selected a tree close enough to the river that it would be considered stupid to hide there. Although shinobi tended to be very thorough, she doubted they would take the time to search so close to the river bank.

Now all she had to do was sit still and wait.

***

Orochimaru licked his lips gleefully. So, the little Hyuuga heiress had left the village.. How intriguing.. Wouldn’t it be absolutely _delightful_ if he acquired a matching set? The Sharingan and the Byakugan? He was salivating just at the thought.. Orochimaru went over the message his apprentice had sent him. Hmmm.. Just 5 hours ago? He grinned, wicked. “I think I will go and retrieve this little gem personally” he said aloud to no one in particular. Well, no time like the present, as his idiotic genin teammate used to say. He formed a few quick hand seals and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.   

***

Karin woke up with a high pitched squeal as Orochimaru licked her face. _Why the FUCK does he even DO that?_ She shuddered as he pulled his tongue back into his mouth. Then quickly sat up, alarmed. _What is Orochimaru-sama doing in my bedroom??!!_

__

As if he had read her mind- which, now that she thought about it, wouldn’t even be very improbable- Orochimaru let his freaky tongue slide out to lick his lips before opening his mouth to  croon, in that creepy voice of his, “Karin-chan, I have neeed for you” *creepy laughter* “Yessss, it is crucial that you prepare immediately” and then he was gone leaving Karin choking on the foul smelling smoke left behind.

_That creepy motherfucker.. ‘I have need for you’. Why the fuck did he have to say it like that. Gah, so creepy.. Pervert! Anyway, he didn’t even tell me what to prepare! And why does he have to draw out his s-es like that. Stupid asshole.._

__

Karin grumbled to herself while she pulled on her mesh undershirt and then her purple T-shirt on top. She strapped on her weapons pouch over her black leggings. Not that she could throw a kunai to save her life- She pulled her red hair into a messy ponytail, only idiots or elites ran with long hair unbound. Then she ran out the door, through the compound towards the main gate. Her chakra was still too untameable for her to perform even the most simple jutsu, yet alone shunshin.

She reached the front gate and paused to catch her breath, not even batting an eye when Orochimaru appeared right in front of her.  “Ahhh, you’ve arrived, come, Karin-chan” he held out his hand to her and Karin suppressed her groan at the thought of the transportation jutsu Orochimaru was going to guide her through. The jutsu was disorientating as fuck and always left her nauseous. Oh well, no choice right? She gripped his hand hesitantly. Then she disappeared.

 


	3. Capture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just moved house and my mum's doing this thing where she doesn't want to get wifi until my siblings and I start being 'responsible' and 'reliable' so unless my 7 year-old brother pulls his shit together, updates will only happen when I visit my dad..

It was hours before Hinata finally sensed her pursuers. It was lucky because she had almost fallen asleep. Just seconds before dropping off she heard a distant bark. “Byakugan” she hissed. Her vision sped through the leaves down to the riverbank, where, sure enough, a four man ANBU squad stood around the water. She got the feeling they were discussing something but the masks made it hard to tell. It seemed that they had no idea she was there though, that was fortunate. She watched as one of them bent down to converse with the nin dog. The man nodded then stood up again signalling something that Hinata didn’t understand. A moment of stillness, then a flash of light as they all shunshined away.

Hinata breathed out in relief. That was almost too easy.. She was safe. They were gone. As the adrenalin faded from her system, her fatigue returned and she found her eyelids growing heavier and heavier. This place was good as any to take a quick nap, probably safer up here than on the ground anyway. It had been a long day and she needed to let her chakra restore itself anyway. She pulled a small spool of wire from her bag and used it to tie her loosely to the branch around her waist. Then she leaned back against the trunk and was out like a light.

***

Karin yawned irritably. The Sound village, or at least the Sound Village under Orochimaru’s rule, was a place where night was treated as day and day treated as night. Which meant it wasn’t often that she was awake while the sun was up. Right now the sun was just beginning to set and she had been running alongside Orochimaru for _hours_.

 _Damn these stupid trees and this stupid chakra control thing and that damn Hyuuga girl she thought irritably_. Orochimaru was obviously displeased at her slow pace along the ground but _honestly_ , who’s fault was it that she still hadn’t been taught to tree hop? The forest was huge and teeming with different life and different chakra signatures. Fortunately the one thing Karin _had_ been taught was to distinguish animal chakra from human chakra. Once she got that down it was simple to spread her senses throughout the forest in search of the chakra of a little genin kunoichi. Orochimaru had first taken her to the outer wall of Konoha to get a feel for the chakra of the Hyuugas. As always, a Hyuuga stood guard with his Byakugan activated, and as soon as Karin had memorised the cool feel from his violet chakra, instantly a hundred new similar chakra signatures had pinged into her senses. All of them were in Konoha though. Which was why she was now running circles around Konoha trying to find the elusive Hyuuga Hinata. _Towards the sun huh? Yeah, she’ll be flying towards the sun when I find her. I’ll punch her so hard-_ Karin halted very suddenly. So suddenly in fact, that Orochimaru almost slithered into a tree.

“Kaarin-chan, do you senssse her? he questioned demandingly.

“I- yes, I think so. I’m-I’m not really sure. The signature’s weak, the group of ANBU just passed it ahead of us.. The chakra is coming from the treetops” Karin stammered out, trying hard to catch a taste of the familiar chakra again. Orochimaru’s slitted eyes flickered towards the stream running next to them, then to the treetops.

“Are you sssure?”

“Nn-” there it was again! It was flickering. “Yes! Can you feel it?” she asked a little excitedly. Finally she had found her. And now she could kick her ass for dragging Karin out of bed 5 hours early.

“Yesss, It seemsss as though she’s falling asssleep” he said, somewhat amused. Well that wouldn’t do, if Karin couldn’t sleep then neither could this Hinata chick. “Summoning!” Orochimaru slammed his hand on the ground. A large snake appeared, at least twice as thick as Orochimaru and long enough to wrap around her whole body. Twice. “Come” Orochimaru gestured towards the snake, a clear invitation to get onto it’s scaly back. _WHAT?? HELL NO!! THERE’S NO FUCKING WAY I’M RIDING ON THE BACK OF A SNAKE!!!_ she thought somewhat desperately. She started backing away when Orochimaru grabbed her arm impatiently and threw her onto the snake’s back. She reflexively wrapped her arms around it’s smooth middle as it slithered up through the trees _. If he were anyone else_.. Karin thought darkly.

Before she knew it she was standing on branch at least 20 metres high. Opposite her was a small mud covered girl, asleep a branch. _This is Hinata? That can’t be right.. She was just in the chuunin exams with me like, a week ago! And she’s so small! And kind of cute_.. The girl in question was breathing softly through her nose peacefully. She didn’t look like she could ever become particularly dangerous or useful. Karin turned towards Orochimaru curiously. He was watching the sleeping girl with an evaluating expression on his face. He frowned deep in thought for a few seconds before nodding a little to himself and turning towards Karin with a wide smile.

“Karin-chan” he drawled, “Untie our new friend over there, we’re bringing her back home” Karin almost snorted at that. Home.. Ugh. Still, she walked along the branch and pulled out her kunai (it was useful after all) and cut through the wire around the girl’s waist. The snake slithered forward and Orochimaru picked her up effortlessly from beneath her armpits to place her on it’s back. The image of Orochimaru picking a sleeping girl up so tentatively like that.. It was an unusual sight. A little disturbing but also something else.. It was.. sweet. Karin shook off the thought. Orochimaru was about as sweet as a lemon. Sleep deprivation really was bad for her mental health..

***

When Hinata woke up she found herself bound to a hard bed with an out-of-focus girl's face just inches away from her own. Her first instinct was to scream. As it was, her shinobi instincts overruled her little girl ones and instead she attempted to blink her Byakugan into existence. Predictably, her attempts fell short as she still hadn't learned how to prepare the chakra coils behind her eyes without hand seals. Not that the Byakugan would help much with the whole strapped to a bed thing. When the girl beside her noticed Hinata was awake she grinned wide and predatory and.. familiar. The grin- It was a grin she knew better than her own small smile. The grin she dreamed about at night and lost herself in memories of by day. There was only one other person she had ever seen grin like that. Naruto.

“Naruto?” Hinata asked faintly. Then flushed hard when she realised that the girl in front of her was very obviously not Naruto. For one thing she was a girl. And now that Hinata was looking, she saw that her colouring was mostly wrong. The girl in front of her had the exact same tan shade of skin as Naruto, the same spikiness and vibrancy in her hair and the same feral smile but that was where the similarities ended. This girl had long bright red hair with the red eyes to match, her features were a lot sharper than Naruto's and she was wearing a pair of glasses perched at the tip of her nose.

The girl's grin instantly became an exaggerated scowl, exactly like Naruto's. Why did this girl have all of Naruto's facial expressions?

“Seriously? That's the first thing you ask for when you wake up? Fishcakes? What the HELL is wrong with you Konoha people, fucking bunch of weirdos..” the girl started a long rant about the general craziness that was Konoha.

 _Oh my god,_ Hinata thought panicked, I'm going crazy, this girl acts exactly like Naruto! Or at least- “Fucking pupil-less eyes and mind controlling freaks with unfairly amazing hair” the girl went on- _a very rude version of Naruto.. I must.. I must be dreaming! No, that can't be right, people don't realise they're dreaming when they dream. Maybe I'm under genjutsu?_ “Kai” she whispered, sending a small pulse of chakra through her body while the girl sitting next to her ranted on. The girl instantly yelped and jumped about a foot in the air.

“What the FUCK?! GOD, DON'T frikking DO THAT!” she shouted, hair bristling like the fur of an angry cat- or a fox. Hinata watched her with confusion. Maybe she had been under a genjutsu which made the girl next to her feel familiar and when she dispelled it, it surprised her? Well, one way to find out.

“Umm, miss? Who- Who a-are you?” she asked only stuttering once. “Miss?” the girl twisted her head to look behind her, when no one appeared she turned back to face Hinata. “Wait, me?” Hinata nodded in confirmation. Naruto's grin graced her face again as she pointed to herself with her thumb.

“I'm Karin! Kunoichi of the Sound village, I specialize in chakra sensing!” she introduced herself enthusiastically. Hinata noticed she gave no family name. But she was still showing the exact same mannerisms as Naruto. She realised the girl- Karin was looking at her expectantly.

“Oh, I-I'm Hyuu- n-n-no” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was no longer a Hyuuga. Now she was just- “Hinata” she said as she opened her eyes. “J-j-just Hinata”

“Well then, Just Hinata-chan-", a new voice sounded from the door and in walked the genin medic nin from the Chuunin exams. The one who had helped Naruto and his team, "-welcome, to the Village of Hidden Sound”

“Ka-kabuto-san?” Hinata stammered distressed. She had woken up bound to a bed. That meant she was most likely in enemy territory. What did it mean that he was here too?

“Yes, Hinata-chan?” he asked, his smile warm but his eyes calculating behind his reflective glasses.

“Why-why aa-a-are you-” she struggled with her words but Karin seemed to take pity on her as she turned to glare up at Kabuto.

“Yeah! Kabuto-dumbass! Why are you here?”

“Ah, Uzumaki-chan” he said, finding pleasure in Karin's unhappy scowl, “Don't you have training to get to?”

 

 _Uzumaki?_ Hinata stared in shock at Karin. _She was an Uzumaki? But Naruto was an orphan with no family! There couldn't be another Uzumaki could there?_ “U-Uzumaki?” she asked quietly, forgetting about her former question completely. Her question was meant for Kabuto but it was Karin who answered.

“Yeah, I'm an Uzumaki, what of it? They're all dead anyway so the name means nothing now” her words were spoken loud and confident but her bitter undertone betrayed her. Still, she pushed valiantly on, “The only thing they left me was a bloodline talent and a shit ton of bounty hunters on my ass”. Hinata was too excited to process anything past her confirmation of being an Uzumaki.

“B-but I know an Uzumaki! Na-naruto! H-he- he's my- I mean- He's an Uzumaki too!” Hinata exclaimed. When Karin didn't react Hinata felt the need to go on. “He's ju-just like you! An orphan but he lo-looks and smi-smiles like you too!” Hinata felt so excited. Naruto wasn't a clanless orphan anymore! He had family! He was going to be so excited when he found out.. She smiled happily before Kabuto's quiet laughter brought her back to the harsh truth of her reality.

“Oh! Who would've known! The only person to ever bring little Karin-chan here to speechlessness is the mousling Hyuuga!” Kabuto's chuckling slowed down before he started out right laughing again. “And here I thought I was going to have a hard time getting you to talk but all I needed was to mention the name Uzumaki, pitiful fangirls!” Hinata felt a pit of anger brewing in her stomach but she pushed it down easily and let her embarrassment overrule it, flowing through her and bringing red to her cheeks and tears to her eyes. Karin, however had no trouble releasing her anger.

“OY! KABUTO-CREEPYASS!” she shouted angrily. “GET THE FUCK OUT” she pointed at the door forcefully. Kabuto stopped laughing but kept his smile.

“Karin-chan, haven't we discussed how unlady-”

“PPPFFFT” Karin interrupted rudely.“Whatever, creep. Just untie Hinata and leave so we can get her cleaned up”

Why was Karin asking to have her untied? She had just met her and she was already defending her and offering her assistance! Like they were already friends.. Hinata had never had someone become her friend so instantaneously though.. But Naruto had even managed to make friends with Sakura who hated him and Sasuke who hated everyone, so perhaps this was just another Uzumaki trait.

***

 _Interesting_ Kabuto thought as he watched Karin glare at him through narrowed eyes with her arms crossed, silently demanding he release her new friend. _How fast Karin has latched on to this virtual stranger after just a few words exchanged. It must have been the happiness in the Hyuuga girl's face as she talked about the other Uzumaki she knew. That and the fact that Hinata is the only other girl around Karin's age in the whole village. This attachment could prove useful._ So he would leave them to develop stronger bonds, after all, both girls had roots in Konoha, the bonds between the shinobi of Konoha were unrivaled and it would be fascinating if he could find a genetic explanation for it. He pushed his glasses up and gave a small but calculated sigh. He saw the victory light up Karin's red eyes. “Alright” he said and pulled out his scalpel to cut away the rope binding Hinata to the bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to visit my dad again next week.. I just started at a new school and stuff so although I had like, 3 weeks, this is all I wrote.. But I've settled down now so I'll probably start writing more.. Thank you for any kudos/comments. :) They really help with my self confidence..


	4. Sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mum let me tether her phone data thing today. Naturally I spent 5 hours catching up on all the fic updates that I've missed.. 
> 
> Btw.. I kind of got lazy towards the end of this chapter so the writing quality went down. Also this chapter is just a filler. The next few chapters should take place during the three year time skip so things will start to get more interesting.

 

Karin was so happy she could hug someone- something she had never done before. She FINALLY had a friend. After years of being ignored by the adults and laughed at by the boys she finally had someone who she could complain to and eat with and train. The friend in question seemed nice enough, a bit quiet and shy but Karin was confident she could change that. Plus she was really cute. Karin liked cute people. Oh, she'd have to find out more about this cousin of hers! But first, she was going to have a word with Kabuto-dumbdumb.

 

 

Hinata sat up slowly after Kabuto cut away her bindings. She still had no idea where she was. Kabuto had said they were in The Hidden Sound Village, but Hinata hadn't ever even heard of it before the Chuunin exams. She had no idea how far she was from Konoha- If she was even in the Fire Country at all!. She pressed herself into the corner on the bed, tucking herself into a small ball. She could hear Kabuto talking to Karin but she couldn't listen to what they were saying over the noise of her rising panic. Karin was shouting about something and the noise was hurting Hinata, making her head pound and her chest contract. Now that she was over her initial happiness at discovering a relative of Naruto, the severity of the situation dawned on her. She was going die.. Or have her eyes cut out. Maybe they would experiment on her while she was alive. She couldn't.. She couldn't. She was so stupid! She never should have run away.. She should have stayed in Konoha where it was safe. Why had she even run away in the first place? To- To run away from her fate.. No! Not just that.. She had run away to.. _**To become strong**_ the voice supplied for her. Right.. She wanted to become strong. Strong like Naruto. If Naruto was here right now he'd be trying to escape. That meant she had no choice but to try and escape too.

 

Before she even had the chance to come up with a plan, she found herself getting dragged to her feet.

“Come on! We'll get you some new clothes.. Then you can wash away all of this mud.” Karin urged her. Kabuto was nowhere to be seen. Hinata stumbled a bit before righting herself and pulling her hand out of Karin's grip.

“B-bu-but.. I- I.. Wh-why?” She finally managed to stammer out. Karin cocked her head to the side, watching her with a look of assessment.

“Why? Why what?” she asked finally. Hinata thought about that for a moment.

“ Wh-why a-am I h-here?” Hinata decided to ask..

“Well, Orochimaru-sama went to get you personally. That means you have something he wants” Karin explained, as if that explained everything.

“O-Orochimaru-sama?” Hinata knew who Orochimaru-sama was. Everybody knew who Orochimaru-sama was. He was one of Konoha's legendary sannin. The one who defected after being caught doing illegal and inhumane experiments.

 

Karin must have picked up on her terror because she sighed and sat on the bed, patting the space beside her invitingly. Hinata wanted to refuse- but she didn't.

 

Karin scooched back a little to lean against the wall but Hinata remained sitting upright with her back stiff and hands folded in her lap. “Ok, so I guess I'll have to explain some stuff” she began unprompted. Hinata turned a little to face her. “ We're in The Village of Hidden Sound. Let's face it, this place frikking SUCKS. The water's cold, the food's gross, the people are grosser.. People come and die in this place like fucking moths. Newbie missing nin and whatever. Orochimaru-sama lets anyone join but pretty much anyone who's not 'special' dies quick enough. Rank around here is all based on how useful you are to Orochimaru-sama. If he thinks you're useless you get put in the 'high-risk experiment list'-” Karin shuddered a little but seemed to have a thought that cheered her up perceptibly. “-But I'm awesome enough that I only get low-risk stuff done to me! And I bet you're gonna be fine too..” Karin trailed off a little uncertainly.

 

Karin pulled off her glasses and played with them while Hinata processed the information. She had a million questions but after a few minutes, decided to ask about the thing that was bothering her most.

“The-the e-experiments.. D-do they h-h-hurt?”

Karin put on her glasses again and turned to stare dead into Hinata's eyes. Hinata blinked uncomfortably but didn't look away. Karin's eyes were a bright red, a few shades brighter than blood and pupil-less like her own. Karin stared into Hinata's eyes as if measuring the amount of horror Hinata could handle. Several responses seemed to be forming at the tip of her tongue but after a few seconds of awkwardness, Karin finally blinked and yelled “OF COURSE THEY HURT, BAKA! They're EXPERIMENTS!! THEY BORE MY BRAIN AND SOUL AND EVERYTHING TO THE POINT OF PAIN!!”

 

Hinata withdrew from the ridiculously loud girl swiftly. She didn't miss the fact that Karin had avoided answering the actual question with a straight answer.. So she was going to take that for a yes. Her mind started to race. She had no idea what to do! She was tired, despite just waking up. She was filthy and bad smelling, her stomach was empty and her throat ached. Maybe it would be best to think about her situation later. She didn't _think_ she was in any immediate danger. And maybe- Maybe this was better for her in the long run. Maybe- _**Not right now**_ the voice chided. _Not right now_ Hinata agreed.

 

Karin was watching Hinata carefully. _Maybe she's not so much like Naruto after all_ Hinata thought.

“So, d'you wanna get cleaned up?” Karin asked, suddenly chipper.

“Y-yes p-please” Hinata replied, relieved.

Karin hopped off the bed and walked to the door, a bounce in her step. Hinata followed her and together they walked down a dim hallway, Karin skipping ahead and Hinata shuffling behind her, following the bright mane of swaying red hair. When they finally got to a ladder at the end of the hall, Karin climbed it and pushed open a trap door above her. Then she climbed through. Hinata followed her up the ladder and into the darkness of the night. _So they live underground.. like snakes_. The thought didn't bother Hinata as much as it should have.

 

Hinata scanned her surroundings, the land was flat and grassy. Far off, in the distance, she could see the outline of trees miles away. There were lights coming from different patches of grass all around her, including the patch she had just climbed out of. The lights must mark different entrances. She turned and behind her she could see lights and figures moving speedily in the distance. Karin followed her gaze.

 

“The training grounds” she explained before grabbing Hinata's hand again. “Come on!” she said, dragging Hinata behind her, “This place is sort of dangerous, lot's of poisonous snakes and stuff!”. Hinata let herself get dragged along, not daring to ask where they were going. Finally Karin stopped next to a light and bent down to pull up the latch of a trapdoor. She drew a few seals on it with a fingertip of chakra, the door sprung open and Hinata found herself getting pulled along down a staircase made from packed dirt. When they reached the bottom, Karin hit a switch in the wall and Hinata found herself blinking irritably under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights.

 

Finally her eyes adjusted and she peered around, taking time to focus on the different objects around her. She appeared to be in some kind of store room. There were opened boxes all around her, weapons lay scattered on the floor, kunai, chains, shuriken, katana, she could even see an axe embedded hilt-deep in the wall. Piles of clothes lay in the corners though she couldn't see them very clearly. She stared at them, concentrating hard, when her instincts made her whirl around and catch the cloth about to hit her head.

 

“There” Karin called belatedly, emerging from a pile of garishly coloured cloth. “That should fit”

 

Hinata lifted the cloth to examine it. When she realised it was a bright pink sleeveless dress she almost fainted.

 

“The pink will look really good on you! Of course we'll have to wash out some of the colour.. But you can wear it on top of your mesh shirt with leggings!” Karin said enthusiastically. Hinata shook her head quickly, speechless. Karin rolled her eyes and snatched the dress away from Hinata.

“Fine, but it's not like I can wear it with my red hair, and there's no other girls around. Go pick out something yourself then.”

Hinata nodded and scurried off to a promising pile of drab gray clothes. She sorted through it but everything was too big for her or too heavy for this weather. She scanned the room again slowly, letting her eyes catch on the patches of grey or lavender. Finally she accepted she was going to have branch out a bit in her fashion sense. Karin, who had been inspecting a pair of steel capped gloves immediately lifted her head the second Hinata picked up a black shirt.

 

“Oh my god, YES!!” she exclaimed snatching the black button up shirt away from Hinata before holding it up to the light, squinting at it considering. “It's a bit big for you at the moment, but you can wear it with a utility belt around your waist, or your hitae. Hinata looked up with a start. She had forgotten all about the hitae-it tied around her neck. She couldn't really wear that anymore, could she?

 

Karin looked around then walked over to a nearby box marked 'headbands'. She rummaged through, chucking metal plates engraved with the symbols for Iwa, Kumo, Suna and so forth over her shoulder. She finally emerged clutching a metal plate with the symbol for sound carved into it's smooth surface.

 

“Here, we'll have to find you a band to sew it on but you can just keep it in that scroll of yours for now.”

 

“O-Oh-Ok”

 

“Awesome, we gotta find you some pants now. Leggings or loose?”

 “lo-loose”

 “Gah, so boring. Why don't you try out something new?

 “N-no-no thanks”

 “Whatever, what about these?”

 “Eeeeeeep” Hinata fainted.

 “Hinata? Hinata? Are you ok? Why are you lying on the floor?”

 

Karin dropped the mesh shorts and crouched down next to the fainted girl. She scowled at the flushed but peaceful face. Then she sucked in a deep breath to shout.

“COME ON! At least SHOWER first BEFORE you sleep! You kind of stink..”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so I take the easy way out and don't bother trying to drag out Hinata's inclusion to sound. I was going to write a panic-in-the-shower-scene but I'm kind of beat. This week's been crazy. I'm never volunteering to help with the mural painting again..
> 
> Next week I finally get to write the training scenes! Hell yeah!


	5. Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have writers block. A big fat block that my words have to squeeze around to escape. Does that make sense? If it doesn't it's probably because I have writers block. Shit.
> 
> Oh and also, I know I promised a fight scene.. But other things got in the way. Like how I want Karin and Hinata's relationship to start out. and stuff. Ugh, words really aren't working for me at the moment. I feel like I've been sucked dry of English. I'm pretty much the only English speaker at school. Which means all the English competitions that the Education Ministry is throwing at the government schools to encourage students to learn English automatically gets sent to me. I live in Malaysia by the way. Did I mention that?
> 
> I'll probably re edit this chapter along with the notes later.. I just need to post this as it's been sitting in my documents for days..

Despite the fact that earlier Hinata had passed out cold, that night (or morning) Hinata just _couldn't_ sleep. She was clean now and smelled like grass, her stomach was full of the surprisingly OK bowl of stew Karin had taken for her. Karin herself had turned her nose up at it and had instead sat beside Hinata on the floor, yammering on about random things that Hinata didn't have the energy to follow. Now Hinata was laying on a narrow, hard bed wearing a thin brown shirt and some too-large pyjama pants. There was a ceiling fan spinning lazily above her and it was pitch black. No windows, no light coming from the hall outside, no anything. It was unnervingly _quiet_ down here. The silence held no comfort. As Hinata shifted uncomfortably unto her side, she found herself recalling the mortifying memories she had managed to gain earlier.

 

***

 

Walking into the wash room that Karin had pointed her to, Hinata had the shock of her _life._ Gazing around the room to make sure she wasn't missing anything with her shoddy eyesight, she confirmed that this was real. The showers were communal! No stalls, no privacy. The only thing separating the men and women was a translucent curtain running halfway through the room. The water came from a natural spring, flowing through the underground cavern that had been formed through earth jutsus and there were rocks jutting out of the river bank, serving as stools.

 

Hinata walked in hesitantly peering at the other occupants of the room. She was relieved to find that no one was visible beyond the translucent curtain. There was no way she could shower if there was a chance a _boy_ could be watching her. Still, as she settled down on a rock at the far end of the room, she could feel the gazes of two towel-clad women following her. One of the women had been scrubbing what seemed to be dried _blood_ out of her shoulder-lengthed, blond hair. The other had been braiding her own long, dark strands. But now all of their attention was focused on Hinata. It made peeling off her ruined jacked and her mud soaked mesh shirt absolutely _mortifying_. Then one of the women wolf whistled and Hinata just wanted to _die_.

 

“Wow girlie, you've got some _serious_ junk for a kid” the blond woman drawled. Hinata turned away, heart hammering and cheeks burning. She covered herself with her dirty jacket while blinking back her tears of humiliation. The women laughed cruelly and Hinata started _shaking_ in.. anger? Or was it _shame_? She couldn't be sure. It didn't matter anyway. She sat down on her rock, hunched over, deaf to the world until she sensed two women leaving. Then she dropped the jacket and pulled off the rest of her clothes mechanically, before scooping up the clear water to wash off her dirt.

 

She dipped her head in the freezing water and scrubbed her short hair turning the water brown with mud. Then she wrapped the huge towel Karin had found for her around her shoulders like a cloak, fully covering herself and realised the only clean clothes she had were the ones in her scroll from Konoha. As much as she _didn't_ _want_ to wear the indecent clothes that Karin would surely pick out for her, her clothes from Konoha, her high collared jacket, her mesh shirt, her lavender pants.. She didn't want to be that girl any more. She was here to change, to become better, stronger, braver, louder, _happier._ She closed her eyes and concentrated on regulating her breaths until her heart rate slowed. Then she used her chakra to pull out the items from her scroll.

 

She ran her gaze over the assorted items sorting the clothes and weapons into the piles of things to keep and to throw. Her underwear and weapons, she decided she would keep. Of course she would need her Sound headplate, but what about her Konoha one? Should she keep it? Should she make a scratch through the symbol? Should she just throw it out? _She would.. She would keep it for now_. She put it in the keep pile. Then she looked at her clothes. Her mesh shirts and her pale lavender pants and the shredded navy pants she had been wearing before. Her mesh shirts were supposed to protect her against shallow cuts, so she should probably keep them. But the other items... She stared at her pale lavender pants, deliberating. Finally, she took a kunai and cut out a long strip of material, long enough to wrap around her waist. She folded it around her Sound headplate and then she put away all of her 'keep pile' items into her scroll. _Now for the rest of her stuff_.. Hinata impulsively threw it all into the stream. The currents swept it away quickly, taking it over to the men's side of the cavern. _Shit._

 

Karin walked into the cavern toting a huge pile of clothes in her arms, constricting her view. She dumped the clothes on the damp ground to find Hinata on her belly, reaching into the stream desperately.

“Uh, Hinata?” she asked.

Hinata squeaked and jumped out of the river, pulling her towel around her tighter. Karin scowled and shook her head a little, theatrically before turning around and rummaging through the small pile of clothes. She looked back and saw Hinata was covered in lots of tiny scratches, nothing serious, still.. She handed Hinata a roll of bandages over her shoulder. Hinata took it gratefully and immediately started wrapping it around her chest, tight enough to hide the existence of her pre-mature breasts. Karin turned around holding an outfit she had put together but promptly dropped it when she saw what Hinata was doing. What the _hell_ did she think she was doing? Well, one way to find out.

 

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU _DOING??!!”_

 

Hinata looked up in shock and dropped the roll. “Wha-what d-do you m-mean K-Karin-san?”

Karin wanted to slap herself when she saw the moisture building in Hinata's eyes. This was obviously a Sensitive Subject. Unfortunately Karin was the last person you went to when it came to Sensitive Subjects. Still, she couldn't just brush it off now that Hinata was all self-concious about it. She had to handle this _delicately._ Delicately, delicately, how could she state this delicately?

“DO YOU _WANT_ to cause yourself serious damage???” she started to shout before remembering she was supposed to be doing this delicately.

“I-” Hinata looked confused but slightly less teary. That was good, _right_? What next? Delicate..

“Take that thing off!” Karin waved towards the bandage Hinata had been wrapping around herself. Hinata stared at her with wide eyes for a few seconds before her face crumpled and she slowly started unwrapping the bindings. _Fuck,_ Hinata was upset again. Ugh, obviously Karin's delicate wasn't _delicate_ enough.

 

Inspiration suddenly hit Karin. “Just wait here!” she called as she took off running out the cavern, up the stairs, across the grass to the storeroom. Chakra finger, seal, then down the flight of stairs.. She flipped on the light switch and ran over to the cardboard box in the corner of the room. Down the side was a list of sizes and above the box was a paper pinned to the wall covered in Kabuto's chicken-scratched explanation.

Karin dug through the pile of clothes. She found what she was looking for then she started to run back to where Hinata was waiting in the cave.

 

Hinata looked up as Karin skidded into the cavern. Then she blinked and suddenly Karin was _right in front of her_ , holding her hands behind her back.

“Here! I didn't know you would need this.. I mean it was hard to tell.. If- if you actually had anything under there..” Karin said in a rush. Hinata realised Karin was blushing really hard. “But obviously you do..” now it was Hinata who was blushing.

Then Karin looked at the ground and held out something Hinata had only seen civillians wear.

“What is th-that?” she asked, despite the fact that she knew _exactly_ what it was.

Karin just looked at her as if she were being stupid. Which she was..

“Wh-what's wrong with b-binds?” Hinata asked, in a slightly defensive tone. After all, all the Kunoichi she had ever seen wore them. Kurenai-sensei, Anko-san, Tsunade-sama..

 

“They stunt your growth and can make it hard to breath and stuff.. I dunno, Kabuto-perve stuck up a sign explaining everything over a box of these.. I didn't really read it.”

“B-but all Ku-kunoichi wear b-ban-bandages”

“Yeah, well they've already finished.. developing. Plus they know the correct technique! Here in Sound we all just wear these.. It looks less cool but it's more comfortable and practical.. Not that I get to wear one yet” Karin added a little jealously.

“But!... I...” Hinata stood speechless for a while.

“OK” she agreed quietly and held her hand out. Karin passed the plain cotton bra over.

“I just- I just got the smallest size.. I didn't know what would fit you” she gushed out a little nervously. Hinata put her arms through the straps and then clipped the straps behind her. It seemed to fit well. Her developing lumps were fully covered but she wasn't having trouble breathing. She grabbed a white t shirt and pulled it on over her head before jumping a bit.

 

 _Oh my, jumping doesn't hurt anymore!!_ Hinata grinned up at Karin who immediately grinned back even wider. Hinata felt a little twist in her heart at the sight of the familiar grin on the unfamiliar face but she shook it off and bent down to pick up the black pants Karin had found for her. She pulled them on. Then she patted the back of her head and stroked one of her side bangs. She made a decision.

 

“Do-do you ha-have something that I ca-can use to at-t-tatch my headplate?”

“I have a stapler..”

 

***

 

The door creaked open and Hinata jumped to her feet, her kunai in hand.

“Hey.. Hinata?” Karin's nervous whisper carried through the room.

“Ka-karin-san” Hinata stammered out, relaxing slightly. Karin immediately popped her head in, her red hair seemingly glowing in the dark.

“Hey.. Can you sleep?”

“I-”

“Right, stupid question.... Can I come in?”

Hinata thought about that.

“Why?” she asked.

“Oh- It's nothing! Nevermind!” Karin bit out a little shrilly. She started to withdraw from the door but Hinata suddenly realised that she didn't want to be _alone_ in this dark, stuffy room anymore.

“N-no! K-Karin-san. You-you can c-come in!” she squeaked out and Karin took that at face value. She slipped through the door quietly before shutting it behind her. Then she stood in the middle of the room, only her hair visible in the darkness. Hinata didn't know how to break the silence, so Karin stood there awkwardly until she finally huffed and invited herself to sit on Hinata's bed. Hinata didn't comment when Karin tugged a bit on her leg. She just sat down from her crouch and leaned back against the wall. Karin yawned loudly and of course, Hinata started yawning too and then her eyes were drooping and she was leaning against Karin's shoulder and she couldn't pull herself up again. Her last coherent thought was of how Karin's hair smelled like lemons.

 

***

 

When Hinata woke up, she instinctively knew _something_ was wrong. Apart from the fact that she was in a hard bed, in a strange room, with a stuffy atmosphere, in an hideout with only an evil doctor/mad scientist as her.. guardian. No, when she woke up, she realised there was something much more unexpected about her disposition. She could feel.. a _heavy weight_ on her _stomach_. And opening her eyes just to confirm her suspicions, she was greeted with the sight of Karin's bright red head, resting on her stomach. Karin's glasses were crooked and her hair was a horrible mess but Karin herself was still sleeping peacefully, her breathing regular and even. Hinata had expected Karin to be the kind of person to snore..

 

Hinata blinked a few times rapidly, just to make sure she was _actually_ awake. Last night she hadn't slept alone.. That was.. That was something that had _never_ happened before. Not for as long as she could remember. Missions didn't count.. Even then, she took the longest guard shift and slept at quite a distance away from her two team mates. But last night she had slept on the same bed as this practical stranger and it had been the most restful sleep she had gotten in a long time. Hinata knew, that for other girls, sleeping with their best friends was something _usual_ , normal. But for Hinata, this was a Big Deal.

 

***

 

Kabuto smirked as he observed the scene before him. Little Karin-chan was standing in a ridiculously sloppy taijutsu stance. By contrast, Hinata-chan stood a few paces away in the perfect stance for the gentle fist technique. Kabuto's eyes gleamed and he pushed his glasses up before calling out, “Begin!”

 

Karin threw two shuriken at Hinata in quick succession. Kabuto instinctively knew that both would miss. So of course, when Hinata somehow managed to dodge right into the line of fire, Kabuto was not prepared to go out and rescue her. The shuriken almost hit her in the neck, but instead bounced off the small burst of chakra Hinata released from her tenkutsu. Kabuto caught himself about to frown and quickly put on his favourite smirk instead. Then he sighed a little. It looked like he was going to be spending tonight shaping some new lenses for little Hinata-chan. How ironic, The heiress to the clan of a hundred visions, had vision problems.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I'm not really sure where the whole breast-binding thing came from. I'm pretty much doomed to be as flat chested as Sakura. But I was just thinking about how Hinata's figure conflicts with her character. And also, I want Hinata/Karin to be about more than just two girls who like each other because there's no one else around. This pairing deserves better than that. Also, I'm still tearing my hair out trying to decide whether to bring in Sasuke or not. I mean, I kind of hate him the same way a mother would hate her murderer criminal child. He's my baby, but he's a piece of shit. 
> 
> Also, are my notes personal on a creepy level? My brother doesn't think so.. But what would he know?


	6. Meanwhile..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incomes.. Neji! Dun Dun DUNNN!!! Ok, so writing this chapter was a breeze. I'm telling you, a million times easier and more enjoyable than writing the previous chapter.. And now that I've loosened my writing muscles up, I can totally see how I'm going to go about with the time skip chapters that should start after this. And I finally nailed down the last few plot points... So yeah.. Things should start getting a little more heated..

Walking into the Hyuuga compound, Neji immediately realised that some unfortunate twist of fate had befallen. Activating his Byakugan, he became aware of the uneasy expressions gracing every villager of the Hyuuga estate. As he walked towards the main house, he was aware of the suspicious gazes that bore into is back. He did not allow it to affect him. He had felt worse. As he turned to the small house dwarfed by the main one he expected to feel the familiar jolt of bitterness. Bitterness that while his cousin lived in the large, airy house with both her sister and father _and_ a couple of servants, he was forced to survive by himself in the tiny cottage with only a monthly allowance provided by his uncle. Instead he only felt relief at being able to walk in and _finally_ get some quiet and peace. Gai-sensei had been especially exhausting today, bursting into tears at random moments and proclaiming how much he missed his 'most youthful' student. Tenten hadn't been much better. Now, all Neji wanted was a long shower and a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

 

It was a telling show of fate's hate for Neji that at that moment the door to the main house slid open and he found himself being summoned by his paternal uncle. It was rare that Hyuuga Hiashi would summon him to the main house, rarer still for him to do so personally, and Neji was a ninja prodigy. He had noticed the anger in his uncle's eyes, even if the rest of his face was as hard and composed as ever. It was.. concerning, no- off putting to see the rare glimmer of emotion in the man's pale pupil-less eyes. Neji closed his half opened door then turned to obey his uncle's summons.

 

He entered the main room to find his uncle seated at the throne overlooking the room. He went to kneel on the tatami mats in front of his uncle's feet.

“Neji.... kun” his uncle said after a length. “I must ask, have you come into any contact with your cousin over the past week?”

Neji frowned, he had not, in fact seen Hinata at all since the preliminary Chuunin fight. Why was his uncle asking? Was he expected to have visited her and apologized?

“No, I have not.. uncle” he said stiffly.

Hiashi sighed tiredly. “I see”. Neji knelt there.. awkwardly for lack of better word although the Hyuuga prodigy was not someone to find himself in such a predicament often.

Finally Hiashi sighed again. “Your cousin.. It seems.. has left Konoha”

Neji resisted raising his eyebrow. How did this concern him? It seemed unlikely that Hinata had never left the village before. And even if this _was_ the first time, why was Neji being told? By a concerned-looking uncle nonetheless.

 

As if sensing Neji's annoyance (although Neji was certain his face had remained as aloof as ever) Hiashi looked down into Neji's eyes again. “Hinata has left.. For good. She has run away”.

 

This time no amount of self-beaten stoicism could keep his emotions of his face. The shock, the incredulity, the disbelief. Fortunately Neji managed to clamp down on the _jealousy_. Hinata.. had left? Spread her wings and taken off, out of the cage? Well, of course. Hinata had no seal clamping her down.. Neji's hand twitched reflexively towards his forehead.

 

Hiashi noticed the movement and Neji cursed himself when he saw a brief flash of understanding in his uncle's eyes. A moment later, Neji realised the understanding was unwarranted.

 

“I see that she told you already..” Hiashi assumed out loud.

“No, uncle. Hinata has told me nothing” replied Neji, curiosity burning within him. Hiashi frowned deep and clasped his hands under his chin.

“Then it is all of our best interests if you don't find out” he said firmly. Neji bit back a curse. “However, you, as her cousin and as part of the reason she has left, will eventually find out. I'd much rather you hear it from a reliable source..” Hiashi trailed off. Neji straightened his spine.

 

“Hinata.. left under the threat of having the caged seal placed upon her. Due to her loss at the preliminary exam, the elders felt it would be more prudent to erase her from the Hyuuga clan completely and have her place be taken by Hanabi”.

 

Neji's eyes widened in shock. His anger at his fate.. had almost caused the wings of his cousin, his _sister,_ to be clipped?? And this time her wings really _would_ be clipped. Cut off, her chakra pathways blocked and her shinobi status stripped. The caged seal was not meant to be put upon those older than a few weeks. He himself was lucky to have overcome the seal blocking his pathways. But Hinata... Still, it was inconsiderable.. to think that _Hinata,_ the girl who stuttered and blushed and fainted, had gathered the courage to leave.

 

Neji thought back to the last time he had saw her, picking herself up off the ground while blood leaked from the corners of her mouth, her determined frown, the resolve in her stance, her faint smile after she proclaimed those words, _I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way._ Maybe it wasn't _that_ unlikely. It seemed that being free was Hinata's fate, just as being caged was his..

 

Neji brought himself out of his musings when his uncle coughed. “Neji.. You are to be part of the search team. We must bring Hinata back. Her eyes.. Are not sealed. It is too dangerous for them to be left out there, unprotected. We must bring them back, with her or without..” Hiashi's voice stayed hard and even.

 

Neji nodded in understanding, keeping his troubled frown and disgusted scowl off his face. Of course, Hiashi was not worried as much about Hinata as he was about Hinata's _eyes._ Neji stood up.

 

“Of course.. I'd much prefer my daughter come back in one piece” Hiashi continued, his voice surprisingly soft. Then he started again in a harder voice. “But that seems to be an unlikely solution. The mission is an A-rank due to the fact that so far, after 36 hours, including the time it took to learn of her disappearance, the ANBU have still not succeeded in finding her. The mission details are with the Hokage. This is a matter of topmost security. You will not breath a word of this to anyone apart from your mission teammates. You will be joining Hinata's team, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and their sensei in two hours at the front gate. You will not return until you find her or until it is time for the third round of the Chuunin exams. Is that understood?”

 

“Yes, uncle” Neji breathed. Then he was out of the house, speeding into his own and whirling around, preparing his bag. Neji did not give himself time to think. He pulled open his bag and stuffed a few changes of clothes, some rations, all of his savings, and even a few kunai although they were not something he usually required. Then he drew himself a bath and washed away all the dirt and sweat he had gained from trying to avoid Gai-sensei's manly, tear filled hugs. Finally, when he had but an hour left before the beginning of his mission, he lay on his bed and closed his eyes, determined to take what Tenten often referred to as a 'powernap'. He took a few deep breaths and lost conciousness.

 ***

Kiba was not happy. Actually, Kiba was frikking _furious._ It was bad enough that his sister had thought it would be fun waking him from his afternoon nap by getting her ninken to bite his large toe, bad enough that she had then given him a summon to the Hokage tower, bad enough that instead of receiving an unexpected Chuunin promotion, he instead got given an A-rank mission, bad enough that the mission was to search for a rogue genin, bad enough that that rogue genin was _Hinata_ who he was pretty sure he was in love with, bad enough that she had been missing for over 36 hours, _frikkin'_ bad enough that he couldn't come back home until he found her. Now, just to decorate the top of that shitty pile of _bad enoughs,_ he had to find out that his team was going to be joined by Hyuuga Neji. He was going to have to spend god-knows-how-long with that arrogant prick, that shithead who had beaten Hinata up and was probably the reason why she had run away in the first place. 

Kiba had very little confidence that they would find Hinata. Yes, there were a team that specialized in tracking, but Hinata had been part of that team. She knew all the tricks, the methods, the signs needed to track someone down. And she was  _smart._ Like, really, really smart. At least, Kiba was pretty  _sure_ she was smart. It was hard to tell with her. But sometimes she would mutter the answers to questions Kurenei-sensei asked, or smile at jokes that only adults found funny, or tell them things that even sensei didn't know. _And_ Hinata was the eyes of the tracking group. Just like Kiba was the nose, Shino the chakra sensor and Kurenei-sensei the invisiblity cloak. Yes, they would have Neji to replace Hinata as the eyes, but Neji probably wasn't _half_ as good at noticing things as Hinata. And Hinata was great at covering her tracks.. No, finding Hinata would not be easy at all.

 

Then there was the fact that Kiba didn't even know if he really  _wanted_ to find Hinata. He liked her a lot, yes, but he had seen her take a killing blow in the chest from her  _cousin_ in front of tens of other ninja who cared for her. Hinata had almost _died_ by her cousin's hand inside the walls of the village. Maybe Hinata was better off away from her crazy family for a while. Kiba wouldn't call himself mature or selfless by any stretch of the imagination, but he liked to think that he loved his friends enough to want what's best for them. 

 

He looked up from where he was sitting against the wall when a shadow loomed over him. There he was, the asshole, the dickface, the shithead who had hurt Hinata. Now he was getting sent on a mission to 'save' Hinata. Kiba growled low in his throat and sprung to his feet. Beside him, Shino hummed a little and his bugs immediately started clicking in an antagonizing sort of way. Neji gave him a once over with an emotionless sort of frown before turning away from him dismissively. Kiba growled louder but stopped when Akamaru whined something to him. Instead he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Akamaru was right, there were much better ways to get back at the Hyuuga prodigy that didn't include getting his ass kicked. His frown morphed into a slightly evil grin. Neji would never know what hit him..

 

***

Neji frowned in annoyance. It had been just 6 hours since they had left the village gates and already he could feel his temporary teammates slowing down with labored breaths and reddened faces. Even the sensei, Kurenei-san was huffing slightly. What a disgrace to her status as Jonin! Neji could run double this pace for three times as long if he were with his _own_ team. No wonder Hinata had progressed so little. With a team as weak as this.. It seemed she was fated to stay as under skilled and weak as a child.

  


Neji was so intent on finding Hinata that he did not even notice when his teammates stopped altogether. It was only when he found himself half a mile ahead did he activate the byakugan to find that his group were resting on the ground, panting and clearly not up for another day's journey. Neji turned around and travelled back to them at a slower pace. When he arrived at the small clearing he was chagrined to hear Kiba's scornful snort and Kurenei's amused smile. As if _he_ had anything to be ashamed about, having a better stamina than them.

  


He sat down at the base of a tree and closed his eyes, deciding that it would be fitting to use this time to meditate. Gai-sensei had suggested it to him after the chuunin preliminaries. At first, Neji had been strongly against it, but when faced against the threat of civilian therapy, he gave in. Surprisingly, meditation was something that Neji quite enjoyed. Despite the fact that he had perceived it as a waste of time, and had gone to the guru's temple grudgingly, when Neji sat down to meditate, it was as if the bars of his cage expanded just a tiny bit. As if he could finally breath freely with the constant panic of being trapped being taken off him.

  


Neji had just reached the trance-like state he assumed for meditation when Kiba decided to pull his first prank. He had come up with this one on his own, no help from Naruto and he was pretty proud of it. He had gathered a hand full of brown leaves and then crushed them with some of his drinking water. He mashed them until they were the right consistency then he put the pulped leaves into Akamaru's waiting mouth. Of course he _could_ have just used mud.. But he didn't particularly want to get maimed. Akamaru jumped gracefully from the ground, up into the trees, landing on a branch a few metres above Neji's head. Then he opened his mouth and let the mushed up leaves fall onto Neji's head with a wet _plop_. Kurenei-sensei looked up from the icha-icha novel she had borrowed(stolen) from Kakashi. Shino pushed his hood back a little. Neji peeled open one eye, then the other before reaching up with hand to touch the wet substance on his head.

  
Kiba held his breath. Neji scooped some of the substance up with his finger and brought it down to his eye level. All was silent as Neji's eyes widened at the sight of the substance that looked very similar to shit. Then Kiba snorted and the silence was broken. Neji stormed to his feet and whirled towards Kiba, anger etched into every line of his face and killing intent coming off him in waves. Shino pulled his hood back down. Kurenei turned a page. Kiba took a shaky step back. 

Then all of a sudden Kiba found himself running. Not from Neji but after him. Behind him he could hear Kurenei-sensei asking Shino where Neji was heading. Shino didn't have an answer. Not until they burst through a thicket of bushes and saw Neji running towards a thin line of blue, far in the distance. Kurenei-sensei groaned. "That's the river that separates Konoha's territory from The Grass Village's, he's not supposed to go there..In fact, the Hokage has instructed we don't even leave the protection of the forest..".

 

Far ahead of them, Neji ran, seething. He was aware that the substance on his head was just leaves and a fair amount of dog spit. Still, he had wanted to _kill_ the Inuzuka boy. The same way he had almost _killed_ his cousin. Which was what had gotten them into this mess into the first place. So instead of tempting fate by fighting his teammate while radiating killing intent, he had instead taken off to the nearest source of running water. He did not want to be labeled a coward by running from a fight. But lately.. Neji had not felt as desperate to prove himself as he had before. He had brought the clan heiress to the brink of death, and it had left him feeling.. guilty. Emptiness, he could have handled, but the guilt that fills his chest every time he recalls that moment, that  _movement._ His hand,  _burning_ with chakra rushing forth to hit his cousin's chest, to stop her heart. He can remember the give of the soft flesh beneath her coat, her shocked exhalation as he knocked the air out of her lungs, her pained cry when he cracked her ribs and the forgiveness in her eyes as she went flying back. Neji felt a new wave of anger overcome him as his feet sank into the muddy ground and the tall grass grazed his elbows. But this time the anger wasn't directed at fate, or the main family, or anyone else. This time, Neji was angry with  _himself._

 

***

 

Karin sprang up off the bed in a jolt, shocking Hinata into a defensive stance by her side. It had been three nights since Hinata had came to Sound, and so far nothing interesting had happened. Orochimaru-snake hadn't asked to see either of them and Karin had been excused of her usual boring duties so that she could bring Hinata around and show her the ropes. Every night Karin had slept in Hinata's room, curled up beside her on the narrow bed and every morning she had woken up to Hinata's wide eyes peering down at her to where she had fallen to the ground. But today Karin had woken up, not to a timid poking from Hinata, nor from the firm shaking of Kabuto, but from the feel of 4 different chakra signatures, heading towards them. Except, the signatures weren't _all_ unfamiliar. There was one that was very familiar indeed. The chakra.. It was almost the same as the chakra signature of the girl beside her. The same as the guard that had stood at Konoha's gate that day. It was the chakra of a Hyuuga, an angry one, and he was heading straight towards them.

 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 

This is how I write out most of my drafts.. Just thought you might find it interesting. Of course this one is worse than most. Probably because I wrote it when I was half asleep and a little delirious from all the sun poisoning me.. Living on the equator sucks by the way. I'm basically a giant human puddle.. 

“Neji...kun” his uncle said after a length. I must ask u, hv u seen ur cousin?

Dah fuk?

Yh i no rite, she missin'

no shit?

No shit,,

fuuuuuuk]

thats som fuked up **fate** shit rite there

it;s not fate. It's ur fault

no!

YES.. u don gon messed up hun, now she gone and she aint comin back

hmmpph good ridancem that bitch ws takin all my fame anyway

how dare hyouQ

how dare i? She so weaj and shitm even naruto, dead last feels sorry for hwe and now imma beat his ass muahahahah

it;s time i tell u,,

what?

Yo daddy didn die bcos of me or her or any1 else really

yh rite whateves

ur dadda died on his own term

really

yh really

well fuuuuk that changes mt whole life perspective, npw imma be awesome an lovable an shit...

u go do tdat sone , u go do that

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has left a kudo or a comment! I have to admit that I haven't gathered up the courage to actually look at any of the comments for the past few weeks. It's just, even though I know that most people won't leave mean criticisms, I can't help but get super panicked whenever I open my inbox... Also, the ratio of kudos to hits isn't all that encouraging.. It kind of makes me feel.. embarrassed to post something that people check out but then get disappointed by. But I promised myself I would finish this fic no matter what! This is supposed to help me get over my social anxiety and also increase my skills as a writer! Hinata and Naruto have always been my role models in life.. :)


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